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Friday, July 29, 2016

The Gondola KAL - Inspiration

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you may have noticed that I went on a fabulous holiday recently. Part of that holiday was three days in Venice. Venice had a big impact on me. I went as a child but couldn't remember much. Walking the narrow streets and along the canals and travelling on the canals really inspired me. It's such a beautiful city, full of history.

While I was in Venice, I kept thinking about design ideas. I took hundred of photos as I drank in every aspect of this city. We travelled around Venice and the surrounding islands by boat.The pastel colours of the houses, the water, the narrow streets - it's all so beautiful.

So I decided to use Venice as an inspiration for the Gondola KAL. Gondolas are the crescent boats that travel around the canals of Venice. They're incredibly expensive so we didn't actually go on one as we were trying to do Venice on a shoestring budget. But we nearly crashed into a few as we travelled around on the water buses. I decided I wanted to design a crescent shape so I decided to name the shawl Gondola after the venetian gondolas.

My yarn, Schoppel Best Of... (colour 2233) have similar shades to the faded pastel shades of Venetian buildings. The faded grandeur of Venice is one of the things I love most about the city. In northern Europe, most of the buildings would have been designated as derelict but in the bright sunshine of southern Europe it looks completely different and in Venice it reminds me of the city's former glory days.

To chat about the KAL or ask questions, dojoin my Ravelry group. I will not answer questions about the Gondola pattern by e-mail, so please ask all questions in the Ravelry group.

Are you ready to cast on, do share your yarn choices in Instagram by using the hashtag #gondolaKAL so we can all see it. I'm doing a Periscope broadcast on Monday afternoon where I will show you how to cast on and get started with this shawl. The first part of the pattern will also be published on Monday.